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Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is a temple site in Egypt, which also hides the entrance to the First Vertex. Fictional History Early History A long time ago, a race of super-ancient beings built the first vertex of the Machine beneath Lake Nasser (the exact geological status of the area at the time is unclear). Some time after the Egyptians discovered the location of the First Vertex, around 1265 BCE during the reign of Rameses II, the Pharaoh ordered the construction of a Great Temple known as Abu Simbel, which would be dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to Rameses himself. Later, Rameses II commissioned a second set of statues to be built a short distance from the originals, in dedication to his wife Nefertari. During the construction of both temples, Rameses II arranged for the eye-lines for one of the eyes of his and Nefertari's statues to look at the entrance to the Vertex. During the Americans' earliest attempts to locate the Vertices of the Machine, they proposed to the Egyptian government the construction of a dam at Aswan, in order to drain away the water from where they believed the entrance to be. During the development of the Aswan Dam, the whole Abu Simbel complex was taken apart piece by piece and moved further uphill to keep from being flooded by the newly formed artificial lake Nasser. However, during the early stages of construction, the American surveyors realised that their suspicions of the Vertex entrance were incorrect, and so abandoned the Dam funding (which the Soviets picked up soon afterwards). The Americans failed to realise that their actions in having the water drained to the Abu Simbel site had actually flooded over the very Vertex entrance they had sought. The Six Sacred Stones After using the Altar Stone of Stonehenge and the Firestone to learn the relative locations of the six Vertices, Julius and Lachlan looked over the data and focused their efforts on the First Vertex since its Pillar was due to be set first. The twins were baffled at first since their calculations put it at the southern end of Lake Nasser, but when they presented their findings, Jack was able to determine that the Vertex was located somewhere beneath the lake near Abu Simbel, thanks to some prior research. When the team arrive at Lake Nasser, Jack arranged for them to scale the statues of Abu Simbel and use the eyelines of the correct statues (while also calculating the difference made by the second set of statues' relocating) to determine where the Vertex's entrance was set beneath the lake's surface. Once they had opened the entrance, Jack, Wizard and Zoe made their way inside and soon found themselves within the Great Viewing Hall. After Jack laid the Pillar, Iolanthe betrayed the team, and she and her squad of SAS soldiers took the charged Pillar, Wizard and Lily back to the dock by Abu Simbel. However, Iolanthe's people was blindsided by Japanese men pretending to be tourists come to see the Abu Simbel statues, affording Wizard the chance to take Lily and the Pillar and flee from the site. As the team made their way back to the shore on a zodiac dropped by Sky Monster, Jack tried to establish contact with Vulture and Scimitar, whom he'd left on the dock as a rear guard, but recieved no response. Once Stretch landed with a Freelander for the team to ride in, the team left Abu Simbel, and the Vertex beneath it, behind. The Five Greatest Warriors After the final Pillar was set in place at the Sixth Vertex beneath Easter Island, the First Vertex beneath Abu Simbel activated once again. This time, as the beam of light it emitted struck the Earth's iron core, it was accompanied by the light beam ignited from the other five Vertices, causing a series of harmonic waves that repelled the Dark Sun. Features Temples . Lake Nasser . The First Vertex The First Corner of the Machine, the Great Viewing Hall, is located beneath the temples at Abu Simbel. Trivia . Category:Locations Category:Real-World Places Category:The Six Sacred Stones Category:Vertex Sites Category:Historical Sites